European MEP’s First Debate On The ‘Plurilateral Trade In Services Agreement’

Trade in services deal: MEPs to hammer out their demands

15 October 2015

As talks on the plurilateral Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) advance between 25 parties, including the EU, international trade MEPs will hold their first debate on Parliament’s draft recommendations to the Commission negotiators on Thursday morning. The aim is to ensure that the views of European citizens, represented by Parliament, can be taken on board before the deal is concluded.

The recommendations are being drafted by Viviane Reding (EPP,LU) for the international trade committee and nine other committees will feed their opinions into the final document.

Once concluded, TiSA will need the backing of Parliament in order to enter into force.

The goal of the negotiations is to agree on concessions which would make the cross-border trade in services, such as financial services and telecoms, cheaper and faster.

Currently, non-tariff trade barriers account on average for more than 50 % of the cost of cross-border services.

The tariff barriers for European firms that want to provide services in Canada, for example account for 15% of the firms’ costs. The figure is 16% for services In Japan, 25% for South Korea, 44% for Turkey and 68% for China, compared to only 6% for the cost of tariffs levied on the providers of services in the EU.

Sixty-eight per cent of the manpower in the EU is employed in the services sector and 10 million EU jobs depend on exports of services.